Blog Posts From The Brave Programmer

Are You Prepared For Failure?

Apr26

Written by:2010/04/26 09:04 AM

We are going to fail at some point or other. Are you prepared for that?

I'm not suggesting that you prepare to be a failure, but what do you do when you fail. So many people don't start a blog or give up very early because of the idea of failure. They are haunted by such questions as; who is going to read my blog, how many comments will I get, will it be a waste of time.

Then they convince themselves with such statements as I'm not good enough, I can't write, nobody knows who I am, I won’t make it.

Such people are preparing to be a failure as apposed to accepting that one might fail and then being prepared for that event. By doing so, one can take advantage of that failure and change it into a success.

Our Biggest lessons come from our Biggest Failures

Many times our biggest lessons come from our largest and most fantastic failures. We've all made mistakes. The question is not what mistakes we have made but what we can learn from those mistakes.

In terms of blogging, not every post will bring in the readership or the comments that you expect. Maybe you might have a few posts that seem to fail. I've been there many times. I would have posts that have gone weeks without any comments and very few readers.

Why is that? The question I should be asking is what can I do differently that will make that post stand out:

perhaps change the title,

perhaps change the length of the post

Perhaps change the type of post. Turn it into a list post or a question post

perhaps change the way you promote the post

The point is that failed posts are a great learning tool and a missed opportunity to succeed.
It is what you do when you fail that counts, not the fact that you have failed. It's ok to fail, but not to make the same mistake twice.

Understand that it's a rollercoaster ride

You need to accept and be prepared for the great rollercoaster ride that you are embarking on. There are going to be times when you and your blog are on a high. But there are also going to be times when you find yourself in the doldrums. It is at this time when your true strength is revealed.

Once you realize that it is not all a bed of roses. Once you realize that there are going to be times when you are not at your best. You can then prepare to succeed after failure. Being prepared for this or any eventuality is a sure path to success.
When you are down in the dip, look to the peaks where you once were and realize that you have been there and that you can get to that peak once again.

Blogging is a continual up and down. Somedays you have fantastic responses, some days you don't. Roll with the punches.
Never give up

The biggest result of failure is failure itself. Might sound strange, but so many people quit when the going gets tough. They give up so soon when their blogs have not reached their goals. Persistence is the key here.

All the greatest inventions of our time where never the result of a single result from a successful experiment. Every failure is a stepping stone to success. When asked why so many of his experiments failed, Thomas Edison explained that they were not really failures. Each time he had simply discovered a method that did not work.

I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process. – Thomas Alva Edison

James Dyson the inventor of the bag-less vacuum cleaner, built 5,127 prototypes before he found a design that worked. He looked at his failures and learned from each one.

If I can encourage you to never give up on your blog then this post is already a success.

Celebrate your failures

Realize that each failed post is a stepping stone to the next successful blog post. Celebrate it as a time to learn a new aspect about your blog, about your audience and about yourself.

Change your attitude when you don't get all those comments on your post that you were expecting. Celebrate the fact that you now have more fuel to succeed in your next post.

There is no such thing as an overnight success.

One of the biggest reasons why people give up on blogging is the false sense that they will succeed overnight. That blogging is a sure way to get free money. That they will be an instant success.

Whether you are planning to be a successful businessperson, a highly paid athlete, or a successful blogger you need thousands of hours and many years of practice to achieve mastery.

Don't be bamboozled into believing that blogging is a quick and easy path to whatever freedom you’re looking for. No, it's hard work, blood, sweat and many tears.

Just look at how long all the successful bloggers have been around. The reason why they are successful is that they have been at it persistently for years, and now it's paying of.

Conclusion

If you get anything out of this post, let it be encouragement to never give up. To be persistent, to welcome the hard work that it is going to take to get your blog where it should be.
Now let me know your thoughts. Please leave a comment below.

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